Harry Potter’s wizarding world is one of those rare cultural phenomenons whose continued success hedges on fans’ desire to physically be a part of it. (Think of Universal Studios "Wizarding World" as a very literal example thereof.) As a Potterhead, it will always hurt a little to think that I’ll never actually have the pleasure of an owl delivering my Hogwarts acceptance letter, not to mention spending seven years of schooling having magical adventures — but 'Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery' makes a solid attempt at recreating that experience in a mobile game format. For this I am grateful, and after playing the game for five days and completing my first year, my inner witch-child is appeased.

My inner witch-child’s name is Zora.

HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS MYSTERY

The premise of Hogwarts Mystery sounds like catnip to Harry Potter fans: players customize a Hogwarts student before their first year at school and step into their shoes as they shop at Diagon Alley, have their house chosen by the Sorting Hat, take classes, meet friends, and discover their magical destiny.

The game itself rolls out like a visual novel, with each class, chapter, and dialogue choice pushing the player towards pre-ordained confrontations. These hit all of the major beats of a Harry Potter book — in one of the main plotlines, your sneering Slytherin rival Merula sabotages your cauldron to make Professor Snape hate you, traps you in a closet with Devil’s Snare, duels you, and generally makes your life miserable. Oh this all leads to a climax where your character has the choice to save Merula’s life (or not?). It’s very Harry and Draco, but still pretty well done! In fact, many of the game's plots are an enjoyable if familiar ride, even if the choice-based dialogue system rarely seems to impact the main thrust of the plot.

Which of my friends will I endanger by bringing them on this quest? Who knows! It barely matters.

HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS MYSTERY

However, most of Hogwarts Mystery is played between those plot beats. In order to advance in the story, players have to complete classes like Flying, Potions, and Charms. Passing the classes means earning points towards your courage, empathy, and knowledge scores, which impact the dialogue choices your character has in the main plot — a low bravery score may mean you don’t have the gumption to stand up to a bully and they embarrass you in front of your friends, while a high knowledge score means you might be able to outsmart them anyway. But beyond the acquisition of personality points the Hogwarts classes are basically a tap-based time waster that falls back on mobile gaming’s greatest sin: a limited energy system. Giving the players a fixed amount of energy that renews only after hours of downtime is a cash-grabbing tradition in mobile gaming, perhaps mainstreamed by the outsize financial success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, which used a similar system to milk millions of dollars from impatient gamers who wanted to get through its tap-based events quicker (in both KKH and Hogwarts Mystery, players can spend real-world money on gems that instantly renew their energy supply).

Everything from crushing lionfish scales in potions class to trimming the ends of a school-issued flying broomstick takes energy, and as the game progresses the time it takes to regain enough energy just to finish a class can feel interminable. Hogwarts Mystery tries to break up the monotony of spending energy points by offering a mini-games involving Harry Potter-related trivia, or tracing a wand gesture on the screen, but the system remains absolute: wait or pay.

Game studios gotta make money too, I guess.

HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS MYSTERY

The thing about Harry Potter fans is...we’re supposed to be good at waiting. It took 14 years from the publication of the first book for the last movie to come out, so taking the five days of gameplay I needed to complete the first year of the game’s available seven-year plot isn’t that bad. If the game didn’t have an energy system, it would be all too easy to blow through the story without taking the time to explore Hogwarts, and discover the secret caches of energy hidden in the castle’s magical corners (pro tip, the suits of armor are very cheeky...try to sort them out) or build the anticipation the story creates for your character’s meetings with iconic characters.

Sometimes you have to stop and smell whatever poisonous nightmare Professor Sprout is growing in the Herbology classroom

HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS MYSTERY

Am I miffed that the game isn’t free for me to run amok and wreak magic havoc 24/7? Yes. But I also understand that to want that experience is to want an entirely different game. Sirius Black waited 12 years in Azkaban. I can wait an hour before my next wizard duel. In the same vein, then, here's a 45 minute-long ASMR video showcasing some of the gameplay:

The real magic of 'Hogwarts Mystery' is in the way it translates what fans love about the books and movies into a mobile screen. From the scene-setting visuals, the ripped-from-the-movies soundtrack, to the occasional voice actor cameos from Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, all the details add to the real-deal feeling of being at Hogwarts. The animation may be rudimentary, but it allows for funny moments (like seeing your rival get wrecked by a broomstick in the background of flying class) that keep in the spirit of Harry Potter’s charm. Playing the game, you're really imbued with the feeling of being at Hogwarts; there’s still a thrill in unlocking a new area of Hogwarts and geeking out over the level of detail included in the castle and dialogue.

My hope is that Hogwarts Mystery delivers on its fun story, and encourages Portkey Games to continue experimenting with new ideas — like a fully immersive RPG that gives players free rein to explore Hogwarts without hitting paywalls or time locks, or a Hogwarts MMO that lets players actually compete with each other for the House Cup. But until those games are realized, there’s still Hogwarts Mystery for me, and if you’ll excuse me… I have a feast in the Great Hall to attend.

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